1.
Town
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A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a town varies considerably in different parts of the world, the word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the meaning of the word. An early borrowing from Celtic *dunom, in English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In England, a town was a community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, in Old Norse tun means a place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian. If there was any distinction between toun and burgh as claimed by some, it did not last in practice as burghs, for example, Edina Burgh or Edinburgh was built around a fort and eventually came to have a defensive wall. In some cases, town is a name for city or village. Sometimes, the town is short for township. A places population size is not a determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, as in India at least until recent times, in the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns. Some forms of settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural. Towns often exist as governmental units, with legally defined borders. In the United States these are referred to as incorporated towns, in other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be unincorporated. Note that the existence of a town may be legally set forth through other means. In the case of planned communities, the town exists legally in the form of covenants on the properties within the town. Australian geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age, although there is no official use of the term for any settlement. In Albanian qytezë means small city or new city, while in ancient times small residential center within the walls of a castle
2.
Hamilton County, Florida
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Hamilton County is a county located in the U. S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,799, Hamilton County was created in 1827 from portions of Jefferson County. It was named for Alexander Hamilton, first United States Secretary of the Treasury, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 519 square miles, of which 514 square miles is land and 5.3 square miles is water. The population density was 26 people per square mile, there were 4,966 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile. 6. 36% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,24. 10% of all households were made up of individuals and 9. 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the family size was 3.07. In the county, the population was out with 23. 50% under the age of 18,10. 80% from 18 to 24,31. 80% from 25 to 44,22. 80% from 45 to 64. The median age was 35 years, for every 100 females there were 135.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 145.40 males, the median income for a household in the county was $25,638, and the median income for a family was $30,677. Males had an income of $26,999 versus $20,552 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,562, about 21. 70% of families and 26. 00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35. 70% of those under age 18 and 16. 10% of those age 65 or over. Hamilton County is served by the Suwannee River Regional Library System, which contains eight branches and also serves Madison and Suwannee counties
3.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
6.
U.S. Route 41
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U. S. Route 41, also U. S. Highway 41, is a north–south United States Highway that runs from Miami, Florida to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, was US94, which presently has the hidden designation of State Road 90 in addition to its signed number. The highways northern terminus is east of Copper Harbor, Michigan and its southern terminus is in the Brickell neighborhood of Downtown Miami at an intersection with Brickell Avenue. It closely parallels Interstate 75 from Naples, Florida, all the way through Georgia to Chattanooga, in Florida, US41 is paralleled by Interstate 75 all the way from Miami to Georgia, and I-75 has largely supplanted US41 as a major highway. Between Miami and Naples, US41 cuts across the Florida peninsula and this section has been designated a National Scenic Byway. The byway runs east–west through the Big Cypress National Preserve, skirting the border of the Everglades National Park for about 20 miles. In Naples, Route 41 changes direction at an intersection with 5th Avenue in Downtown Naples, as the Trail moves into Hillsborough County the historic communities of Ruskin, Florida and Gibsonton, Florida are south Hillsborough County high points. Ruskin was founded by the Commongood Society, Gibsonton was populated by Carnival workers. US41 is in the process of being widened throughout the northern Tampa Bay suburbs and it is currently six lanes wide between Tampa, Lutz, and much of Land O Lakes, and again between Garden Grove and Brooksville. It is also four lanes wide in Tampa south of BUS US41, a large portion of US41 is co-designated along the unmarked State Road 45 between Belle Meade and High Springs. From US92 in Tampa to US41 Business and State Road 676 near the unincorporated Palm River-Clair Mel and it contains the northwestern end of the Tamiami Trail at the SR60 intersection. It is normally three lanes wide, but between Interstate 4 and the terminus of SR569 it is only two lanes wide. The unsigned state highway is 5.6 miles long, at the northern terminus, US41 turns west. Major intersections include State Road 574, SR569, I-4, SR60, in Northern Florida, US41 runs along the DeSoto Trail between Floral City and Williston and again between High Springs, and Lake City. In Georgia, US41 is paralleled by Interstate 75 all the way from Tennessee to Florida, in Atlanta, Highway 41 was formerly carried on Spring Street near Five Points, but it has long been re-routed via Northside Drive around the downtown area. The Georgia Dome, Georgia World Congress Center, and Philips Arena are located off Northside Drive, south of Atlanta, Metropolitan Parkway and Tara Boulevard carry the highway, along with its co-signed partner US19, toward Griffin. North of Atlanta, the stretch of Highway 41 between Atlanta and Marietta was the first four-laned highway in Georgia when it was completed in 1938, now, the Northside Parkway and the Cobb Parkway carry US41 through northern Fulton and Cobb counties. This thoroughfare is the home of the Big Chicken, Cumberland Mall, the Cobb Galleria, and the Six Flags White Water amusement park
7.
Interstate 75
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Interstate 75 is a major Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route and it travels from State Road 826 and SR924 on the Hialeah–Miami Lakes border to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Canadian border, I-75 is the seventh longest Interstate Highway, the second longest north-south after I-95, and passes through six different states, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. Due to high levels on the Interstate, much of the route is six lanes even in rural areas. I-75 starts at an interchange with SR924 and SR826 on the Hialeah–Miami Lakes border in suburban Miami, the freeway enters the Tampa Bay metropolitan area before the interchange with I-275 northbound, which handles St. Petersburg-bound traffic. The freeway proceeds to enter suburban portions of Pasco, Hernando, afterward, the northmost stretch of I-75 in Florida exits the Sunshine State into southern Georgia. After Macon it passes the town of Forsyth. The freeway reaches no major junctions again until in the Atlanta metropolitan area, the first metropolitan freeway met is I-675, then followed by the Atlanta Perimeter bypass, I-285. It crosses inside the Perimeter and heads north several miles towards the Atlanta city center, Interstate 75 then runs concurrently with I-85 due north over the Downtown Connector through the central business district of Atlanta. The areas where I-85 and I-75 run concurrently are some of the most traffic-prone streets in the nation, after the two Interstates split, I-75 makes a beeline northwest, crossing outside the I-285 perimeter and heading towards the major suburban city of Marietta. This section of I-75 just north of I-285 has 15 through lanes, north of Marietta, the final major junction in the Atlanta metropolitan area is the I-575 spur. I-75 then traverses the hilly northwestern Georgia terrain as it travels towards Chattanooga, the freeway enters Tennessee directly in the Chattanooga metropolitan area, where it intersects with I-24. Exiting Chattanooga to the northeast, I-75 passes through a known for dense fog. Twelve people were killed and 42 were injured in a 99-vehicle accident on that stretch of I-75 in heavy fog on December 11,1990, I-75 does not meet any other highways until it overlaps Interstate 40 near Farragut and heads eastbound. Together, they enter the outskirts of Knoxville, where I-75 overlaps itself with a different road, this time I-640, near Walton, I-71 merges with I-75, making for yet another overlapped portion of freeway. I-275, which is the Cincinnati beltway, is intersected by I-71/I-75. After passing through Covington, the crosses the Ohio River via the lower level of the Brent Spence Bridge. I-74 westbound, Ohio State Route 562 eastbound, and SR126 all intersect the freeway as it makes its way northward, in Arlington Heights, a Cincinnati suburb, I-75 sees a carriageway split for a few miles
8.
Interstate 10
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Interstate 10 is the southernmost cross-country interstate highway in the American Interstate Highway System. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 in Santa Monica, California, to I-95 in Jacksonville and this freeway is part of the originally planned Interstate Highway network that was laid out in 1956, and its last section was completed in 1990. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following I-90, I-80, about one-third of its length is within the state of Texas, where the freeway spans the state at its widest breadth. Between its west terminus in Santa Monica, California, and the major East Los Angeles Interchange, the Santa Monica Freeway is also called the Rosa Parks Freeway for the segment beginning at I-405, and ending at I-110/SR110. The segment between the East Los Angeles Interchange and the city of San Bernardino,63 miles long, is called the San Bernardino Freeway, for example, a sign near the western terminus of the highway in Santa Monica proclaims this highway the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. I-10 is known to a lesser degree as the Veterans Memorial Highway. In Palm Springs, I-10 is also named the Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway as a tribute to the late entertainer who served both as the mayor and as a U. S. Congressman, another stretch a short distance east in Indio is proclaimed the Doctor June McCarroll Memorial Freeway. In Arizona, the highway is designated the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway, the portion through Phoenix is named the Papago Freeway, and it is a vital piece of the metropolitan Phoenix freeway system. This designation starts at Loop 101, near 99th Avenue, from the southern terminus of I-17 to the southernmost junction with Loop 202, the highway is signed as the Maricopa Freeway. This name holds true as well for I-17 from its terminus to the Durango Curve south of Buckeye Road. From Loop 202 south to the terminus of I-8 just southeast of Casa Grande. The Arizona Department of Transportation also has maps that show it as the Maricopa Freeway, while the American Automobile Association, the latters name is used on a stretch of Loop 101 from Loop 202 to I-17. Between I-17 in Phoenix and the I-19 interchanges in Tucson, I-10 is included in the federally designated CANAMEX Corridor, extending from Mexico City to Edmonton, in Tucson, Arizona, between I-10 mileposts 259 and 260 are interchange ramps connecting I-10 with the northern terminus of I-19. The highest elevation along I-10 occurs just east of Tucson,20 miles west of Willcox, at the mile marker 320 exit for the Amerind Foundation, the westbound lanes of I-10 briefly cross above 5,000 feet above sea level. I-10 passes through three Southern New Mexico municipalities of regional significance before the junction with I-25, Lordsburg, Deming, most of I-10 in New Mexico, between Exit 24 and Exit 135, is concurrent with US70. At Lordsburg is the junction of US70 and a concurrency. Several exits between Lordsburg and Deming are either for former towns or lack any town at all, at Deming is the western junction of US180, which also forms a concurrency with I-10 all the way to El Paso. One mile north of Deming on US180 is New Mexico State Road 26 which serves as a cut to north I-25
9.
Valdosta, Georgia
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Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, located on the southern border of Georgia, United States. As of 2013, Valdosta has a population of 56,481. Valdosta is the city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area. It includes part of Brooks County to the west, Valdosta is the home of Valdosta State University, a regional university in the University System of Georgia with over 10,900 students. The local public Valdosta High School has the most winning football program of any school in the United States. Valdosta is called the Azalea City, as the plant grows in profusion there, the city hosts an annual Azalea Festival in March. Valdosta was incorporated on December 7,1860, when it was designated by the legislature as the new county seat. The railroad was built to Valdosta that year, rather than Troupville, many citizens of Troupville had already relocated to Valdosta when the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad was built four miles away. On July 4,1860, the known as Satilla No.3 pulled the first train into Valdosta on the Atlantic. Valdosta is located in the plain of Georgia and has a virtually flat landscape. It was once the center of cotton growing in the United States. The county had a population well before the war with a substantial black population. The sixty miles of railway between Valdosta and Waycross were once the longest straight stretch of railroad in the world, today highways stretch through the county for miles with hardly a curve, rise, or fall. After being bypassed by the railroad and losing the county seat and it had been named after Governor George Troup, for whom Troup County, Georgia, was also named. Valdosta was named after Troups plantation, Valdosta, Troup had named it after the Valle dAosta in Italy. The name Aosta, refers to Emperor Augustus, a long-standing rumor held that the citys name meant vale of beauty. The American Civil War erupted just months after the establishment of Valdosta, during the war, Valdosta was far away from battles and became a refuge for those fleeing areas of Georgia where the war was being activelly fought. Since before the war, the American Colonization Society had supported the relocation of free blacks to Liberia, the first group from Lowndes County left in 1871, and were led by Jefferson Bracewell, the second group was led in 1872 by Aaron Miller
10.
Sinkhole
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A sinkhole, also known as a cenote, sink, sink-hole, shakehole, swallet, swallow hole, or doline, is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. Most are caused by karst processes—for example, the dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes. Sinkholes vary in size from 1 to 600 m both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms, sinkholes may form gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide. Sinkholes may capture surface drainage from running or standing water, but may form in high. Sinkholes that capture drainage can hold it in limestone caves. These caves may drain into tributaries of larger rivers, the formation of sinkholes involves natural processes of erosion or gradual removal of slightly soluble bedrock by percolating water, the collapse of a cave roof, or a lowering of the water table. Sinkholes often form through the process of suffosion, for example, groundwater may dissolve the carbonate cement holding the sandstone particles together and then carry away the lax particles, gradually forming a void. Occasionally a sinkhole may exhibit a visible opening into a cave below, sinkholes also occur in sandstone and quartzite terrains. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground and these sinkholes can be dramatic, because the surface land usually stays intact until there is not enough support. Then, a collapse of the land surface can occur. Sinkholes also form from human activity, such as the collapse of abandoned mines and salt cavern storage in salt domes in places like Louisiana, Mississippi, more commonly, sinkholes occur in urban areas due to water main breaks or sewer collapses when old pipes give way. They can also occur from the overpumping and extraction of groundwater, sinkholes can also form when natural water-drainage patterns are changed and new water-diversion systems are developed. Sinkholes tend to occur in karst landscapes, karst landscapes can have up to thousands of sinkholes within a small area, giving the landscape a pock-marked appearance. These sinkholes drain all the water, so there are only subterranean rivers in these areas, examples of karst landscapes with a plethora of massive sinkholes include Khammouan Mountains and Mamo Plateau. The largest known sinkholes formed in sandstone are Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel in Venezuela, some sinkholes form in thick layers of homogenous limestone. On the contact of limestone and insoluble rock below it, powerful underground rivers may form, in such conditions, the largest known sinkholes of the world have formed, like the 662-metre deep Xiaozhai Tiankeng, giant sótanos in Querétaro and San Luis Potosí states in Mexico and others. The state of Florida in the United States is known for having frequent sinkhole collapses, the Murge area in southern Italy also has numerous sinkholes. Sinkholes can be formed in retention ponds from large amounts of rain, an analysis of a case of sinkhole formation under a retention pond due to a large amount of rain can be seen in a sinkhole collapse study
11.
Groundwater
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Groundwater is the water present beneath Earths surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or a deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from, and eventually flows to, the naturally, natural discharge often occurs at springs and seeps. Groundwater is also withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, Groundwater is hypothesized to provide lubrication that can possibly influence the movement of faults. It is likely that much of Earths subsurface contains some water, Groundwater may not be confined only to Earth. The formation of some of the landforms observed on Mars may have influenced by groundwater. There is also evidence that water may also exist in the subsurface of Jupiters moon Europa. Groundwater is often cheaper, more convenient and less vulnerable to pollution than surface water, therefore, it is commonly used for public water supplies. For example, groundwater provides the largest source of water storage in the United States. Underground reservoirs contain far more water than the capacity of all surface reservoirs and lakes in the US, many municipal water supplies are derived solely from groundwater. Polluted groundwater is less visible, but more difficult to clean up, than pollution in rivers, Groundwater pollution most often results from improper disposal of wastes on land. An aquifer is a layer of substrate that contains and transmits groundwater. When water can flow directly between the surface and the zone of an aquifer, the aquifer is unconfined. The deeper parts of unconfined aquifers are more saturated since gravity causes water to flow downward. The upper level of this layer of an unconfined aquifer is called the water table or phreatic surface. Below the water table, where in general all pore spaces are saturated with water, is the phreatic zone, substrate with low porosity that permits limited transmission of groundwater is known as an aquitard
12.
Marriage
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The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity, when defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, whom they marry may be influenced by socially determined rules of incest, prescriptive marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire. In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child marriage, polygamy, conversely, such practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns for womens rights and because of international law. These trends coincide with the human rights movement. Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, an authority, a tribal group. It is often viewed as a contract, Marriages can be performed in a secular civil ceremony or in a religious setting via a wedding ceremony. The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved, and any offspring they may produce, some cultures allow the dissolution of marriage through divorce or annulment. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in spite of laws against the practice. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005 and these changes have occurred primarily in Western countries. The word marriage derives from Middle English mariage, which first appears in 1250–1300 CE and this in turn is derived from Old French, marier, and ultimately Latin, marītāre, meaning to provide with a husband or wife and marītāri meaning to get married. The adjective marīt-us -a, -um meaning matrimonial or nuptial could also be used in the form as a noun for husband. Anthropologists have proposed several competing definitions of marriage in an attempt to encompass the wide variety of marital practices observed across cultures, even within Western culture, definitions of marriage have careened from one extreme to another and everywhere in between. The anthropological handbook Notes and Queries defined marriage as a union between a man and a such that children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners. In recognition of a practice by the Nuer people of Sudan allowing women to act as a husband in certain circumstances, Kathleen Gough suggested modifying this to a woman, none of these men had legal rights to the womans child. Economic anthropologist Duran Bell has criticized the definition on the basis that some societies do not require marriage for legitimacy. He argued that a definition of marriage is circular in societies where illegitimacy has no other legal or social implications for a child other than the mother being unmarried. In 1955 article in Man, Leach argued that no one definition of marriage applied to all cultures and he offered a list of ten rights associated with marriage, including sexual monopoly and rights with respect to children, with specific rights differing across cultures
United States
Florida
